Ramadhar Singh, who had served as an assistant professor of psychology in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) during 1973-79, was recently honoured with the Purdue University Distinguished Alumni Award in Psychology by the College of Health and Human Sciences at West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. Only two psychologists in Purdue's history have been such honourees before him. Singh is currently a distinguished university professor at the Amrut Mody School of Management of the Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Accepting the award on March 25, 2022, he said, “Being recognised with this award makes me fully satisfied with my life journey as a psychological scientist.” We, the faculty and staff members of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, congratulate him and Ahmedabad University on this academic triumph from India!

He remains as active and productive researcher at the age of 76 today as he was at the age of 28 at IIT Kanpur. The department established Prabha and Ramadhar Singh Distinguished Lecture in Psychology in early 2022

Ramadhar Singh joined the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) as an Assistant Professor of Psychology in November 1973 and moved to the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad as a Professor in June 1979. During his short tenure at IITK, he led the doctoral program, guided three doctoral students, and taught courses to undergraduate engineering students. His publications in international journals created a new standard of excellence in research.

Over an illustrious 54-year career, Ramadhar Singh also served at the Patna University (1968-1973), IIM Ahmedabad (1979-1988), the National University of Singapore (1988-2010), and IIM Bangalore (2010-16). He has been a Distinguished University Professor at Ahmedabad University since July 2016. In recognition of his exceptional and outstanding contributions to psychological sciences, he was elected Fellow of the British Psychological Society (1992), American Psychological Association (1993), Association for Psychological Science (1993), Singapore Psychological Society (1993), Society for Personality and Social Psychology (1993), and National Academy of Psychology (India) (2008).

The Association for Psychological Science, Washington DC, USA, maintains a website of influential psychologists: Faces and Minds of Psychological Science. As of today, only Ramadhar Singh from India is included among them (http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/faces-minds/inferring-missing- information.html). The Indian Institute of Management Indore bestowed its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Research on him in June 2021 (https://www.iimidr.ac.in/news-events/iim-indore-presents-the-maiden-lifetime-achievement-award-for-excellence-in-research-to-ramadhar-singh/). For his passion for research and remarkable achievements, the College of Health and Human Sciences honored him by the Purdue University Distinguished Alumni Award (https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/news/2022/02/passion-for-research-drives-hhs-distinguished-alumni-award-recipient-to-excel-in-social-psychology-and-management/; https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/alumni/awards/index.html).

Ramadhar Singh has publicly stated that his career might not have unfolded in such a  gratifying way had he not started his post-doctoral career at IITK. He humbly acknowledges that most of his experimental studies at the levels of individual (decision making, impression formation, interpersonal attraction), group (age-related changes, intergroup relations), organization (job satisfaction, leadership effectiveness, prediction of performance), and society (cross-cultural differences, intuitive prosecution, justice and fairness, prediction of donation) were possible because of the love and support of his wife Prabha Singh, herself a Developmental Psychologist. Findings from her experimental research with children were published in Child Development, Cognitive Development, and Journal of Social Psychology. They have also been cited in psychological literature.

By hosting the Prabha and Ramadhar Singh Distinguished Lecture in Psychology, the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur celebrates their sustained contributions to the advancement of Psychology and Management as a Science in Asia.

There are three criteria that have been laid down for inviting any psychologist to this Distinguished Lecture in Psychology:

1. Has publications based on experimental studies and quantitative analyses.
2. Has published extensively in reputed journals (e.g., those of the professional associations such as American Psychological Association, Asian Association of Social Psychology, Association for Psychological Science, British Psychological Society, International Association of Relationship Research, Psychonomic Society, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Society for Research in Child Development, and/or those published by Elsevier-USA, John Wiley & Sons-UK, Routledge-UK, Sage-UK, Taylor & Francis-USA).
3. Has attained Fellow status in at least one professional association from those mentioned above.

Lecture 2023 by Prof. Miles Hewstone